Color

Do not fear color. Color is good.

Regarding white and “greige:” Growing up, Mother always painted our walls white. My father once quipped, “It is as though we are living in a bathtub.” The real reason is that Mother’s career was in the art world and on our walls hung original artwork from artists ranging from Romare Bearden to Peter Max. Throughout our house, there were colorful pieces of hand-blown glass and small sculptures created by John Nygren and Willy Guttman. There were lots of colors everywhere one looked. White was merely the canvas.

As for “greige,” that is color terminology mostly talked about among realtors. A realtor is mostly likely going to suggest to a seller they paint that bubblegum pink bedroom a light shade of gray and ditch the lava lamp and chartreuse bean bag chair. As one realtor put it, “The Sixties called and they want their psychedelic stuff back.” Gray works great when selling a house; however, if you are planning on living there awhile, color can be good.

Color can come in many forms. You can paint one wall in a room a striking color such as navy blue or spring green. Hang a white framed mirror on this wall and it pops. You can have white or greige walls and hang brightly colored artwork, photographs, or planters to create an interesting or calming space. And then, there is always the mighty pillow. For very little money, colorful pillows using various textures can punctuate a room and/or pull everything together.

Color is good. Do not fear color.